Posts by Guest User
Becca's intercultural conversation course

In July and August, 2024, the Hands Up Project held a six-week Conversation Course that gave students and volunteers a chance to discuss a variety of topics. The students themselves chose the topics, which included world events, culture, sports, and technology. Each week the students also shared ways they were working to improve their English. The course was attended by a total of 25 students with the participation of 10 volunteers. 

Below are reflections from two of the students, Thoraya and Mohammed, sharing their experiences in the course:

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Lemon and mint in Gaza now

All of these performances make me feel immensely proud of what we have achieved in Hands up over the years. But this is nothing compared to the feelings I have watching the videos of the rehearsals of ‘Lemon and Mint’ which are being done in Gaza right now. Despite everything, English teacher Muneera has managed to put together another version of Lemon and Mint, performed in a garden in Gaza. The final performance will be ready soon but in the meantime here are some short videos of some of their rehearsals.

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The play as a project

Organising a play writing competition is a good way to motivate learners of English, but drama as a tool for learning has more depth, is more holistic, and is much more wide-reaching than an approach which only emphasises the achievements of the few groups that win.In this post I want to focus on the process based drama work of two Gazan UNRWA English teachers, Sahar Salha and Saida Almadhoon who, each in their own way, have incorporated drama into their English curriculums by turning the playmaking competition into a drama project.

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The lying game

This week we have a guest post from an old friend of mine who I used to work with in Birmingham about 20 years ago. Jon Turner now lives in UAE and has been volunteering once a week with children in Palestine. I really like his take on the traditional 2 truths and a lie activity and have since tried it out myself very successfully with my own groups in Gaza and Zaatari. Over to you Jon!

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Cuisenaire rods as visual aids in storytelling

This week we have a guest post by Armenian English teacher and teacher trainer, Ani Aloyan. I met Ani in Armenia about 2 months ago when I was running a storytelling course for teachers, organised by British Council Armenia. In this post Ani discusses some great techniques for demonstrating and checking meaning when storytelling. She's just about to deliver her own storytelling course for teachers in a different region of Armenia now. Thanks for the post Ani and thanks too for sharing the Palestinian story of Jbene with teachers and children in Armenia.

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Your story

This week we have a guest post by one of the latest teachers to join our ever expanding pool of volunteers around the world, Emi Slater. What Emi writes fits in very well with the current trend in the work of the Hands Up Project to focus more on children creating stories, rather than merely consuming them. Over to you Emi...

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